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Technologies for the Control of Heat and Light in the Vézère Valley Aurignacian

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Technologies for the Control of Heat and Light in the Vézère Valley Aurignacian S288 Current Anthropology Volume 58, Supplement 16, August 2017 Technologies for the Control of Heat and Light in the Vézère Valley Aurignacian by Randall White, Romain Mensan, Amy E. Clark, Elise Tartar, Laurent Marquer, Raphaëlle Bourrillon, Paul Goldberg, Laurent Chiotti, Catherine Cretin, William Rendu, Anne Pike-Tay, and Sarah Ranlett Online enhancements: supplemental figures We can trace the beginnings of our knowledge of early Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian) use of fire to the pioneering 1910–1911 excavations at Abri Blanchard undertaken by Louis Didon and Marcel Castanet. At Blanchard, the excavators recognized and described fire structures that correspond in many ways to features excavated more re- cently in Western and Central Europe. Here, we address the issue of heat and light management in the early Upper Paleolithic, demonstrating a pattern that builds on these early excavations but that is refined through our recent field operations. Topics to be discussed include (1) recently excavated fire structures that suggest complex fire man- agement and use, (2) the seemingly massive use of bone as fuel in most early Aurignacian sites, and (3) the anchoring of skin structures for purposes of heat retention with fireplaces behind animal-skin walls. Furthermore, new data on activities around fireplaces make it possible to infer social and organizational aspects of fire structures within Au- rignacian living spaces. The vast majority of early Aurignacian occupations, most of them now dated to between 33,000 and 32,000 BP (uncalibrated), occurred on a previously unoccupied bedrock platform into which the occupants dug their fire features. The use of fire has long been recognized as a key innovation 2012; Karkanas et al. 2007; Roebroeks and Villa 2011; Stahl- in human evolution as a source of light and heat, a mecha- schmidt et al. 2015; Wiessner 2014; Wrangham and Caromed nism for cooking (Chazan 2017; Villa, Bon, and Castel 2002; 2010). Often, however, we are overly preoccupied with the Wrangham 2017), and a focal point for fireside activities and earliest occurrences of fire rather than its use in cultures where social bonding (Alperson-Afil 2008; Fernández Peris et al. we have long known controlled fire to be present. Randall White is Professor at the Center for the Study of Human Origins in the Department of Anthropology at New York University Boston University (675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachu- (25 Waverly Place, New York, New York 10003, USA) and Associate setts 02215, USA [[email protected]]) and at the Institute for Archae- Researcher at CREAP in the Maison des Sciences de l’Hommeetdela ological Sciences at the University of Tübingen (Rümelinstr. 23, 72070 Société of CNRS at the Université de Toulouse-Jean Jaurès (USR 3414, Tübingen, Germany) and the School of Earth and Environmental allées Antonio Machado, F-31058 Toulouse Cedex 9, France [randall Sciences at the University of Wollongong (Wollongong, New South [email protected]]). Romain Mensan is a Researcher in the Laboratoire Wales 2502, Australia). Laurent Chiotti is Researcher/Director in the TRACES, CNRS at the Université de Toulouse-Jean Jaurès (UMR 5608, Département de Préhistoire du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle F-31058 Toulouse Cedex 9, France [[email protected]]). Amy E. at UMR 7194 and the CNRS of the Musée de l’Abri Pataud (24620 Les Clark is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Anthropology at the Eyzies-de-Tayac, France [[email protected]]). Catherine Cretin is Con- University of Arizona (1009 East South Campus Drive, Tucson, Arizona servator of Patrimony at the Musée National de Prehistoire in Les Eyzies 85721, USA [[email protected]]). Elise Tartar is a Researcher at (1 Rue du Musée, 24620 Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, France [catherine the Equipe Ethnologie Préhistorique of CNRS (UMR 7041, 21 allée de [email protected]]). William Rendu is a Researcher at PACEA of l’Université, 92923 Nanterre Cedex, France [[email protected] CNRS at the Université de Bordeaux (UMR 5199, 3074 Bordeaux Cedex, .fr]). Laurent Marquer is a Researcher at the Laboratoire GEODE of France [[email protected]]). Anne Pike-Tay is Professor in the Depart- CNRS at the Université de Toulouse-Jean Jaurès (UMR 5602, Toulouse ment of Anthropology at Vassar College (124 Raymond Avenue, Box 701, Cedex 9, France) and in the Department of Physical Geography and Poughkeepsie, New York 12604-0701, USA [[email protected]]). Sarah Ecosystems Science at Lund University (Box 117, 221 00 Lund, Sweden Ranlett is a Graduate Student in the Department of Anthropology at the [[email protected]]). Raphaëlle Bourrillon is a Researcher at University of Toronto (19 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2S2, CREAP (see above for CREAP info [[email protected]]). Paul Canada [[email protected]]). This paper was submitted 25 VII 16, Goldberg is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Archaeology at accepted 21 III 17, and electronically published 21 VII 17. q 2017 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved. 0011-3204/2017/58S16-0012$10.00. DOI: 10.1086/692708 This content downloaded from 129.015.064.253 on February 11, 2019 11:57:27 AM All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c). White et al. Heat and Light in the Vézère Valley Aurignacian S289 Our research on classic sites in the Aurignacian shows that carved in the limestone to enclose the rock-shelter with skins not only was fire an essential part of life for human groups and retain heat. Many of our inferences surrounding these during this time but that it was manipulated and used in a topics make use of an abundance of experimental research standardized and consistent manner within an overarching over the past 20 years that has sought to investigate cultural system of heat and light capture and control. This includes and natural formation processes of combustion-related fea- altering the limestone bedrock to create concavities in which tures (see, e.g., Aldeias 2017; Costamagno et al. 2010; Lejay the fires sat and the creation of adjacent structures for the et al. 2016; Miller et al. 2010; Théry-Parisot et al. 2002). control and manipulation of different types of heat (e.g., the removal of hot coals from the primary fire feature to an ad- jacent location for a special use) and light (portable lamps). Classic Aurignacian Sites of the Vézère Valley In this paper, we will first present a series of early Aurignacian and Associated Fire Structures sites from the Vézère Valley, combining our recent interven- Abri Castanet and Abri Blanchard tions as well as observations from early excavations. A clear pattern will emerge: at site after site, the earliest Aurignacian When Marcel Castanet discovered a complex of fire features occupation sits directly on the bedrock, dates to between 32,000 at Abri Blanchard in May 1910, he and his employer, Louis and 33,000 years BP (uncalibrated), and exhibits complex fire Didon, were ill equipped to understand the importance of this structures within human-made depressions in the bedrock. The find, and given the state of knowledge before World War I, quality of information for each of these fire structures depends they had few points of comparison. Castanet drew a rough on when they were excavated, but a clear pattern can never- sketch in plan view (fig. 1), and after having recovered many theless be established. We do have a particularly clear window spectacular artifacts associated with these fire features, he on this pattern, however, that derives from our recent exca- simply backfilled the entire area containing the fire pits. vations at Abri Castanet. Between 2005 and 2010 we excavated Nearly 6 months later, in October 1910, Didon asked Cas- an interconnected set of fire structures that is testament to the tanet to reexpose the fire structures so that he could observe sophisticated management of fire in the Aurignacian. Finally, them himself. While there are allusions to photographs taken we will discuss a few key topics relevant to the management of by Didon, these appear not to have survived. The only record fire, heat, and light in the early Aurignacian. These include the is that plan view sketched by Castanet on May 21, 1910 (fig. 1), organization of activities around fire structures, use of bone or which shows one large elongate feature and three smaller wood as fuel, and the production of pierres à anneaux, rings satellite features all dug into the friable limestone bedrock. Figure 1. Castanet’s May 21, 1910, plan view of the fire features at Abri Blanchard, annotated and translated. L. Didon archive (cf. Delluc and Delluc 1978). A color version of this figure is available online. This content downloaded from 129.015.064.253 on February 11, 2019 11:57:27 AM All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c). S290 Current Anthropology Volume 58, Supplement 16, August 2017 In the Blanchard publication, Didon (1911) described the gnacian site, the Abri de la Souquette, just 50 m across the valley fire features as follows. from Abri Blanchard. Unfortunately, because of late medieval The four hearths were constituted of shallow pits dug into quarrying and massive pillaging at the beginning of the twen- the bedrock terrace. Three of the pits were circular, with an tieth century, only a small fragment of the site was available for 2 approximate diameter of 0.5 m and a depth of 0.2 m. The modern excavations by Roussot (1982) in the 1980s. Roussot fourth, rectangular with semicircular extremities, measured observed and excavated a few square meters of the Aurignacian fi 3.5 m long by 1.5 m wide, with a depth of ca.
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